


Thank The Witch

by Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth



Series: Thank The Witch- parts 1 and 2 [1]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bonding, Explosions, Flashbacks, Found Family, Gen, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Nonbinary Jet Star, Nonbinary Party Poison, Nonbinary Show Pony, PTSD, Serious Injuries, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24364249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth/pseuds/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth
Summary: Fun Ghoul’s luck runs out, and he accidentally blows himself up working on a bomb.
Relationships: Agent Cherri Cola & Fun Ghoul, Agent Cherri Cola & Show Pony (Danger Days), Fun Ghoul & Jet Star & Kobra Kid & Motorbaby & Party Poison (Danger Days), Fun Ghoul & Jet Star & Kobra Kid & Party Poison (Danger Days), Kobra Kid & Motorbaby | Grace (Danger Days)
Series: Thank The Witch- parts 1 and 2 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759117
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy! This is kind of a heavy one, so please be warned.  
> Part 1 of a two-part series.  
> Catch me on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight!

Fun Ghoul was lucky. Really lucky, considering all the times he should have got blown up but didn’t. Each time an explosion went wrong and Ghoul walked out of it okay, Jet pleaded with him to thank the Witch, even if it was just leaving out a trinket for Her. Ghoul never did. It wasn’t that he was arrogant, or even that he didn’t believe in the witch— he still wasn’t sure how he felt about Her— it was just that he never got around to it or remembered at the right time. And besides, he’d got along okay without angering Her yet, so She must not care that much, if She really did exist.


	2. Chapter 2

He’s working on a modified pipe bomb when his luck runs out. As he holds the bomb up to the light filtering through the workshop’s grimy window, one of his hearing aids lets out a piercing series of beeps, a warning that it’s almost out of power. Startled at the sudden, painful noise, he fumbles the bomb, and it clatters to the floor. Ghoul swears under his breath, and bends down to grab the bomb when it goes off without warning, throwing him back five feet and through the window of the shed.

The others are used to hearing explosions from Ghoul’s workshop, but when no frustrated string of curses follows the blast as they usually do, Party Poison pokes their head around the back of the diner where they had been working on a mural. They raced over to Ghoul’s side, swearing a blue streak. Ghoul’s clothes are on fire, and Party quickly strips off their own jacket to beat the flames out with. After a minute or so, they are finally able to extinguish Ghoul, and they drag him, unresponsive, to the diner. 

“Jet! Help, it’s Ghoul, fuck, get the medkit!”  
Some sounds of scrambling, and Jet Star rushes in as Party hauls Ghoul onto his back on one of the diner tables.   
“Fuck, Jet, he needs help.”  
Jet starts examining Ghoul, wiping away the blood from his face, stopping short at a laceration cutting down through his eyelid.   
“Oh shit,” Jet says, backing away, a hand covering his eyepatch, “Party, I—“ he bolts. Party doesn’t try to call him back. They remember all too well the sensation of cutting out Jet Star’s ruined left eye as he screamed, the others trying to shield the Girl from seeing. But Jet was the only one at the diner who can deal with wounds as severe as Ghoul’s are, and he’s still bleeding heavily from various gaping wounds, broken bones poking through his skin and clothing. Party stands frozen staring at him for far too long, before snapping back into action and sprinting to the kitchen for the radio, dialing Cherri’s station with practiced speed.   
“Ch-Cherri, get over to the diner as quick as you can. Bring Pony, too. Ghoul’s hurt real bad and Jet’s freaking out.”  
Cherri Cola doesn’t waste the time to say anything more than “affirmative” before heading out. Once he and Show Pony are speeding down Dreams Boulevard, he directs Party Poison in how to keep Ghoul stable as best they can until the two of them arrive. 

Cherri and Show Pony make the drive over in record time, scrambling out of Cherri’s battered blue truck, smoking from the strain of driving twice as fast as it was meant to. They switch into action as soon as they reach Ghoul. Cherri was the most skilled medic any of them knew, and he works faster than most, even one-handed. For whatever Cherri couldn’t do, Show Pony took over, meanwhile working on Ghoul’s lesser wounds. Party hovers anxiously over the two of them until Cherri tells them to make themself useful by handing them materials out of the medkit. 

Eventually, after hours, the frantic scramble to save Fun Ghoul’s life is over, successfully. Cherri orders Show Pony to move Ghoul to a different booth, so he wouldn’t be lying in a puddle of his own blood. Show Pony does so, then starts packing up the medkit and using leftover rags provided by Party to clean off the table and surrounding floor. Cherri sinks to the ground by the diner wall, his hand shaking so hard he can’t hold his dog tags, not for lack of trying. Party Poison returns to the radio to reach the Kobra Kid, to fill him in on what had happened.  
“Party Poison to Kobra Kid, come in.”  
“Party! Me an’ Kobra finished our run early, an’ we went to the Crash Track! It was—“  
“That’s great, girlie. Can you grab Kobra real quick? I need to talk to him.” The Girl finally picks up on the tremble in their voice, and calls Kobra over without argument.   
“Hey, Kobra. I need you to keep the Girl out of the diner for a while more. Ghoul’s been hurt real bad, and she doesn’t need to see him like this.”  
Kobra doesn’t question them, agreeing to stay out with the Girl until someone from the diner okayed them to return.   
“Can she speak to the others? I think we’d both like that.”  
“Oh, Kobra. Ghoul still hasn’t woken up, and Jet got real freaked out— I’m going to talk to him after this. I’ll have him call you guys when he can.”  
Kobra is silent for a long while before asking, “Was it bad?”  
“Yes.” Party Poison hangs up without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, catch me on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight


	3. Chapter 3

Jet Star was sitting on the roof. He didn’t know how long he’d been up there, and couldn’t remember why he’d fled the diner in the first place. All he knew was sharp pain where his eye had been, hearing himself screaming, begging Party Poison not to take it out. He smelled his own burnt flesh, both the initial laser blast that had damaged his eye, then when Party held their blade in Ghoul’s lighter before cauterizing the wound. Jet Star hadn’t had the blessing of passing out at the time, and now the memory of it was seared into his mind. It wasn’t always the same, though; sometimes it was Korse clawing his eye out, or the Witch plucking it out before devouring it in her beak with a single graceful movement. Sometimes he was alone, and sometimes his family was there, holding him down as he struggled. But the pain never changed, and it was here now, a burning pain he could never quite reach, or rip away. 

Party Poison pulls him out of his thoughts, though, cool, gentle hands guiding Jet’s own hands away from his face. They’re bloody, he notices, and he realizes he had been clawing at the scar tissue covering his eye socket. He feels for the first time, hot blood gushing from his face down to splatter the surface of the roof. His eyepatch lies ruined nearby.   
“Hey, Jet Star.” Party’s voice cracks as they speak, and their face is slack with shock and horror.   
“...hi. Sorry.”  
“Jet, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m so sorry you were put in that position in the first place. I’m sorry I couldn’t come find you sooner. Will you come down with me? I need to- to check out your face. Will you let me do that?”  
Jet nods. His hand goes back up to cover the left side of his face, protectively this time, and he lets Party take the other and lead him down to the bathroom, where they clean his torn skin and wrap gauze and bandages around it. When the task is done, Party gently pulls Jet Star from where he’s been sitting on the edge of the sink. Jet lets them pull him up, and hugs them.   
“Thank you.”  
“Of course, Jet. And besides, I should be thanking you— here I was thinking the perfect Jet Star never has any problems of the emotional variety!” Jet punches their shoulder playfully.   
“I like to surprise you guys, keep you guessing.”  
“That’s our Jet Star, alright.”  
Jet throws an arm over Party’s shoulders, and Party puts an arm around his waist, and together, they find the strength to join Cherri and Show Pony in keeping vigil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bOnDInG TiMe


	4. Chapter 4

After his sibling hung up so abruptly, Kobra turns off the radio hooked up to his bike, and sits down to debrief with the Girl. In the back of his mind, he wonders if telling her is the right thing to do. She’ll have to find out sometime, though, and he’d rather she hear it now, from him, instead of as exaggerated gossip from some other ‘joy.   
“Hey, Miss The Girl. I gotta talk to you.”  
She giggled at the nickname, but sits up straight, pleased to be part of a Serious Discussion.   
“You know I was just on the radio with Party?”   
She nods.   
“They told me Ghoul got hurt, and the best thing for him right now is for us to stay out of his hair while he recovers, okay?”  
Her solemn look is replaced by confusion.   
“But I wouldn’t touch his hair if I asked an’ he said no! Not even if I really wanted to!”  
Kobra has to smile despite the grim news.   
“It’s a saying, girlie— it means, like staying out of bothering him. What do you say we go down to Doctor D’s and see if he has another run for us? We’ll earn some extra carbons to surprise the others with when we get back.”  
“Okay!”  
And with that, the Girl has been informed of the situation without making her worry. Kobra mentally congratulates himself. 

Show Pony leaves the diner that night, once it’s clear Fun Ghoul isn’t in any more danger, and Cherri Cola settles in to stay for a while. Ghoul wakes up every two hours or so, always incoherent, but alive and awake. After a few hours with the three of them sitting in the booth around Ghoul, Party sends the other two to rest. Jet drags out a mattress from the back room, and he and Cherri fall asleep instantly, back to back. The three take shifts sleeping and watching over Ghoul, and though not one of them is without nightmares that night, the others are there to comfort them.


	5. Chapter 5

Party Poison awakes to the smell of breakfast cooking. They stumble off the mattress and into the kitchen to find Cherri Cola trying to boil Power Pup into soup stock, and that is the moment Party remembers yesterday’s events. They walk right back out of the kitchen to check on Fun Ghoul and Jet, who had taken up position in the booth next to Ghoul, currently unconscious. Jet waves to Party, silent assurance that nothing had gone wrong in the night, and Party waves back at them before returning to the kitchen.   
“Mornin’, P. I’m tryna make soup— I want Ghoul to eat today, so he doesn’t lose strength. Do you have any milk? I don’t want to add anything solid, but the milk’s nutritious, or whatever. I think it used to be, when fresh milk was a thing. I knew a couple ‘joys who had a cow once, wonder what happened to them...”  
Party listens to him quietly ramble as they rummage through the cabinets, finally finding half a bag of powdered milk in among the dishware. They pass it off to Cherri, who had tied a wooden spoon to what remained of his left arm, so he could stir the boiling soup while adding ingredients.   
“Nice spoon-arm,” Poison says, pulling out a bag of chips and can of water for their own breakfast.   
“Thanks. I’m thinking of keeping it, y’know, as a fashion statement. Plus, I can do this.”  
Cherri reaches over and pokes Poison in the back of their neck when they aren’t paying attention. Party Poison gasps and drops their chips, sticking their tongue out at Cherri through their giggles.   
“Take some of those chips out to Jet, I’ll bring this when I’m done here.”  
Party obeys willingly, grabbing another can of water and cracking it open for Jet. 

Party hands off the chips and water to Jet before they slide into the booth opposite them. Jet looks worried, but rested, and much better than yesterday, and they’re wearing a different bracelet— this one’s red, to signify they’re using they/them pronouns.   
“Go eat this, take a break.”  
Jet nods, not wanting to make more noise than necessary, and carries the food outside. A few minutes later, faint sounds of music come from the back bedroom as Jet warms up and starts softly playing their guitar. 

Cherri comes out of the kitchen not long after, toting a bowl of soup.   
“Help me prop him up”, he says to Party, and together, they ease Ghoul into a reclining position, leaning against the wall of the diner.   
“I redid his bandages and stuff before you woke up, and once before, during the night. The bleeding’s mostly stopped, now we only have to worry about infection and getting him to eat.”  
Party nods, and Cherri hands them the bowl of soup, before gently touching a hand to the side of Ghoul’s face less covered in bandages.   
“Hey, Ghoulie. Time to wake up now, we’ve got some food for you.”  
Slowly, Ghoul opens an eye (the other is hidden in swathes of bandages, but Cherri assured them, particularly Jet Star, that the damage to his eyelid wouldn’t affect his sight once it healed). Poison hands the soup back to Cherri, who gently tips the bowl into Ghoul’s mouth. Cherri lets him drink until the bowl is empty.  
“T’stes... like shit”, he mutters, the first indication Ghoul’s given of coherence since before Party found him in the yard. Cherri and Party grin in elation at the proclamation, and Ghoul glares at them. He can’t do much else; the rest of his face is messed up enough to make talking hard, if not impossible.   
“W’happned?”  
It’s Party Poison who answers.   
“You blew yourself sky-high at last, Ghoulie. Your lucky streak must have run out at last.”  
“Mmh. Figures.”  
Cherri smiles silently. He’s nowhere near as eloquent or talkative in person as he is on the radio, but he’s thrilled Ghoul’s pulled through. 

Fun Ghoul stays awake long enough for another bowlful of Cherri’s soup, and long enough to talk to Jet Star. The next day, he’s awake twice as long, and is coherent enough to complain the entire time. His crew couldn’t be happier.


	6. Chapter 6

Fun Ghoul doesn’t remember the explosion, not really, but he does remember searing pain and heat and panicked voices all around him. His brain’s more than happy to fill in the rest for him, and Ghoul just accepts the new material for his nightmares. In a way, he supposes, it’s a refreshing counter to the old ones, the same scenarios reimagined a thousand times. It’s why he’s grateful to be awake, even though the pain is much worse when it’s real, and he can’t move to shoo away the flies that want to make a meal out of his guts, and all he wants is a breath of fresh air. He’d pick being awake over the nightmares any time, but he does consider himself entitled to telling the others all about everything that’s bothering him. 

Five days after Fun Ghoul blew himself up, Show Pony skates back up to the diner with a foldable wheelchair tucked under nir arm.   
“You seem pretty stir-crazy lying around all day”, Jet says, “So this way you’ll be able to get some change of scenery.”  
“But you’ve got to get one of us to push you or you might rip your stitches”, Cherri adds, poking Show Pony as ne and Jet unfold the wheelchair. Show Pony swats back at him, reference to some old incident. 

Once everything’s in place, Show Pony and Jet lift Ghoul into the wheelchair, careful not to jostle his cuts and broken bones.   
“Where to, Ghoul?”, ne asks once they’re settled.  
“Will y’all take me to the shed? I want to see the damage.”  
Party visibly blanches. They and Jet Star had gone out to check on the damage a couple days ago. By that time, the wind and sun had swept away all of the blood outside the shed, but inside was a gory mess. The two had only stayed long enough to put a tarp over the broken window, long enough for Party to find a single finger on the floor. 

Cherri Cola steps in when he sees their expressions.   
“‘Fraid not, G. That’s a bit too far right now. However!”, he makes a dramatic motion around the room, “The entire first floor of the diner is all yours.”   
Ghoul rolls his eyes.   
“Then lead the way, oh tour guide.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone’s curious, Show Pony’s full set of pronouns are ne/nir/nir/nirs/nemself, courtesy of the pronoun dressing room site!  
> I’m on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight


	7. Chapter 7

The others had kept Kobra pretty well updated on the situation at the diner, and he wasn’t surprised when, a week after he and the Girl had been asked not to return yet, were asked to return. The two of them had been crashing at Doctor Death-Defying’s place in the meanwhile, and had been taking runs for him— nothing too much for the Girl, of course. The pair had racked up a pretty bagful of carbons from their paid runs. (Kobra suspected D was taking pity on the Fabulous Killjoys, since there were significantly more paid runs than usual).


	8. Chapter 8

Kobra and the Girl pull up outside the diner, and as she ‘helps’ him park his bike, he warns her not to be surprised when she sees Fun Ghoul. She nods along, but he knows she can’t truly be prepared, and he, too, stops short when they enter the diner. 

Jet, Party, Cherri and Ghoul are sitting around a diner table talking, playing cards abandoned face-up on the table. Cherri’s telling the others a story, and they follow along. Ghoul’s covered in bandages, only half his face visible. His right arm and both legs are held in rough splints clearly made from the wood planks piled out by the workshop, and the few visible parts of his skin are covered in cuts and vivid bruises. But when he sees them frozen in the doorway, the Girl peeking out from behind Kobra’s legs, he smiles and beckons them in.   
“Our prodigal duo’s returned at last!”  
Cherri turns back to face Ghoul.   
“I’m pretty sure that’s not what that means.”  
Kobra picks up the Girl and swings her down onto Jet Star’s lap, and she loses all her apprehension as Cherri starts up his story again. Kobra notices that Jet’s eyepatch is missing in favor of some gauze taped over his eye socket, but Kobra doesn’t ask, and instead turns his focus to Cherri’s story.   
“So I was just telling these guys about this time I got caught by BLI undercover in Batt City...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, The End!  
> I’ll be posting a Part Two once I get my grades in order, so be sure to hang around! I’m also still working on my other Danger Days WIP, Origins, in which I write the Fabulous Four’s super-tragic backstory~  
> I’m on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight.  
> Take care, y’all!!


End file.
